Fate Lends a Hand
by Carebeark5
Summary: This is a sequel to The Artist. The BAU takes on the case of a killer who is targeting interracial couples.
1. Chapter 1

Note: This is continued from The Artist. It starts right where that story left off but with a new case.

Alfred Hitchcock said, "Blondes make the best victims. They're like virgin snow that shows up the bloody footprints." 

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Stafford Hospital**_

Emily was still in the hospital recovering from their last case, she was doing much better and had plenty of visitors. But she hated the hospital and being stuck in bed with absolutely nothing to do. Aaron came by to see her everyday before work and sometimes if he got done early as well. She had known she had feelings for the unit chief for a while but she was afraid to let herself care so much about anyone. Her past with other men hadn't been that great but when she had almost died she thought to hell with it. She was going to enjoy her relationship with Aaron. Sure theirs was relatively new but they had known each other for years so they were past the initial getting to know each other stage.

Just then the very man who had captured her thoughts for the past couple days, stepped into the room, "Hey how are you feeling today?" he asked stepping up beside her bed.

"Much better now that your here."

"I know you hate it here so I brought you a few things." He said holding up the bag he had with him.

"What did you bring me?" she asked sitting up in bed.

"Some DVD's from Garcia she said you'd love them. Reid sent these books, says you should keep your mind active while your stuck in here.

"Of course he did."

"JJ sent some magazines, Morgan sent you an MP3 player with some songs he loaded on for you to listen to and Rossi cooked you something to eat. Which I snuck in here for you," he said pulling out a tupperware container.

"And you, what did you bring me?" she asked with a small smile.

"I brought this," he said leaning down to kiss her.

"Is that all?" she pouted jokingly.

"What that's not enough?" He replied playing along. "I'm just kidding I brought you this little guy." He said with a smile as he pulled out a little dark brown teddy bear.

"Awww he's so cute," she said laughing at the little gun holster the bear was wearing.

"I'll tuck him in here next to you," he told her as he placed the bear next to her on the bed.

"Thank you," she said leaning up to press a kiss to his lips. "He'll just have to be my bodyguard while your at work," she said causing him to laugh.

"Oh I almost forgot Jack wanted me to give this to you," he said reaching into his coat pocket and handing her a piece of folded paper. Unfolding it she noticed a drawing of three people. "Is that you, me and Jack?"

"Yeah."

"Tell him I love it and when I get out of here I'll put it up on my fridge."

"He'll love that."

Just then a cell phone rang interrupting them, "Oh man I thought I turned that off. "Hotch," he answered as he kept his gaze on Emily.

"Alright thanks JJ."

"You got a case?"

"Yeah I hate to leave you."

"It's alright go catch the killer."

"I'll see you later, try and get some sleep." He said leaning over to kiss her forehead before reluctantly leaving the room, looking back at her he said, "I'll see you later beautiful."

_**Behavioural Analysis Unit, Quantico Virginia**_

__Hotch walked into the conference room where the rest of the team was waiting for him. "Where were you bossman? Your usually the first one here in the morning." Garcia asked as he took a seat at the head of the table.

"Sorry I overslept and then had to take Jack to school a little late," he lied. He and Emily had decided to keep their relationship a secret for now, they wanted it to be just the two of them for a while.

"What do we got JJ?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"Our unsub has kidnapped a mother and her daughter, Amy and Isabella Westfield. They were on their to the daughters school but never made it there. The father Micheal was found dead in their home. But get this he was found missing his left ear."

"Ah god," Garcia commented looking away from the crime scene photos as Morgan who was seated next to her reached over to squeeze her hand.

After the briefing Garcia was headed back to her office when JJ pulled her aside. "Pen, are you sure there's nothing going on between you and Derek?" she asked. "I mean I know you two have always been super close and flirty but lately things just seem different."

"Jayje, we're just friends. Someone like my chocolate god would not be interested in an ugly computer geek like me."

"Oh sweetie your not ugly and Derek would be lucky to have someone like you."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

_**Westfield House, Virginia**_

The team headed over to the Westfield House, if they were to find out anything about the unsub it would be there. The body was long since removed but everything else was the same. Blood was smeared across the living room floor as if he had been dragged and there was also blood spray on the wall. The amount of blood and the fact that he was stabbed repeatedly could suggest the unsub was suffering from rage when he killed the victim. JJ looked at the family hanging above the fireplace, "There were such a beautiful family."

After gathering as much information as they could from the crime scene they headed back to headquarters to start to compile their profile for the police. It was late and Hotch could tell the rest of the team was hungry and probably just as exhausted as he was, "Alright guys why don't we break for the night and pick this up in the morning."

"Sounds good I'm starving," Morgan said shutting the folder.

Hotch grabbed something to eat and then headed over to the hospital. He wanted to see Emily before he called it a night, he just hoped she was still awake. When he walked in he noticed her eyes were closed and he stood and watched her for a minute before kissing her forehead. He planned to just let he sleep but her eyes fluttered open.

"Mmmm, Hotch?"

"Yeah it's me sweetie. I'm sorry to wake you, I just wanted to see you before I called it a night."

"I missed you too," she said sitting up as he propped up the pillow behind her so she would be more comfortable.

"How did the case go?"

"We haven't got any leads so far."

"Tell me about it, maybe I can help."

He filled her in on the case as he reached down and took her small hand in his. "Sounds like an interesting one. I wish I could be there with you guys catching the bad guys is always better than laying here doing nothing."

"Your not doing nothing, your recovering and you'll be back before you know it," he assured her.

_**Marcs Home, Virginia**_

They were called to a scene only a few hours later. Hotch hadn't even gotten a full hour of sleep yet when he got the call stating they had a second victim. They stood around a second living room that looked much like the first one had. The floor smeared with the blood of another man.

"Jonathan Marcs, twenty-eight years old he was a physical trainer. He lived with his girlfriend of eight years Amelia Johnson who worked as a waitress. The girlfriend was reported missing just like our first case," JJ said filling everyone in.

"Looks like he was hit from behind," Morgan said looking down at the body.

"A way to overcome a more powerful man," Hotch replied.

"The victim is African American just like the first victim while his girlfriend is caucasian. This could mean the unsub has a problem with mixed race couples," Reid said.

"Maybe he's delusional and thought he was helping the females by removing them from their mates?"

"It's possible," Hotch replied.

On the way back to headquarters they called Garcia to have her run a check on the two victims to see if their was any connections. "Look's like our two vic's go to the same gym. Jonathan Marcs worked there and Micheal Westfield went there everyday. They were both there the day before they died and their wife/girlfriend went missing."

"Garcia can you run checks on all the African American males who belong or work at the gym, specifically any who are dating or married to anyone of another race."

"I'm on it bossman."

"Our unsub is most likely a male between the ages of 20-30, probably delusional and suffers from bouts of extreme rage," Hotch said.

"He fits into a crowd well and is able to befriend the people he gets close to before he kills them. Kidnapping the women and child could be that he wants to protect them, he thinks he's helping them."

"The unsub seems to go after African American males who choose caucasian counterparts."

"Jealousy could be part of the motive as well," Rossi chimed in from the other side of the table. "Maybe in order for us to get into our unsubs mind better and figure out how he chooses his victims we should send Derek and JJ undercover. We could have them join the gym and do the same things our victims have done to see if he takes the bait."

"No, no way we are not putting our agents lives on the line," Hotch said remembering how he had almost lost Emily on their last case. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt.

"This unsub is very hard to figure out and maybe doing this might be our only way of catching him," Reid said.

Just then Garcia came in with a list of 25-30 names on it, "Sorry I couldn't really narrow it down much further." She sat down next to Morgan and listened as Reid filled her in on what she missed while she was in her office. "Sir no offence but I don't think it's a good idea to send JJ undercover, she has a young son and needs to be home to take care of him. What would my godson do without his momma. If you need someone I can do it."

"I still need to think about this guys but I'll let you know. Why don't we take a break for lunch and meet back here in an hour and a half."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_**Stafford Hospital**_

Hotch wanted to talk to Emily now more than ever, they had only been together a few days and already he wanted to share everything with her. "Hey," she said a smile breaking out on her face as she noticed him standing in the doorway. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you. This case is..."

"What is it Aaron?"

He handed her the case file and told her about the new victim that was killed, then he mentioned what was really bothering him. The idea that the others had brought up earlier about going undercover. "I know you don't want anything to happen to them Hotch but they are agents they were trained for this besides you guys will be monitoring them."

"I know but look what happened to you, I almost lost you on a case."

"But you didn't and you know Derek won't let anything happen to her. She'll be safe and her computer skills would come in handy she can do searches and other computer work while undercover."

He had to agree with her, she did have a point now he just had to let the rest of the team know. He left her with the promise to return later that night before heading home.

_**Back at Headquarters**_

"Alright so I thought it over and I realized you guys were right. Maybe we do need someone to go undercover to find out more about the unsub and if we work this right, we may even be able to catch him."

"So who's going undercover?" Reid asked.

"Morgan and Penelope, I agree with what you said about JJ she needs to be with Henry. But you've never done this before and I need to be sure that you can do this," Hotch told her.

"I know I have never done this kind of work before sir but I can assure you that I can do this job."

"I promise I will keep her safe, Hotch. There's no way I'd let my baby girl get hurt." He said reaching for her hand on the table and giving it a squeeze.

They discussed the details of their undercover lives, they were going to say that they had been together for four years and had recently decided to move in together. They just bought a new house which the F.B.I got for them to use while on the case. Penelope would work as a secretary at a doctors office while Derek worked at a clothing store. "Out in public you two need to act like a real couple, like two people who are madly in love." Hotch said as the rest of the team suppressed the urge to snicker.

"We'll be fine won't we baby girl."

"Definitely my chocolate god,"Garcia answered not saying what she was thinking. She was scared, more scared than she ever been in her life. She wasn't sure how this would all play out but she hoped neither one of them got hurt. Tangoing with a killer didn't seem like such a good idea.

_**The Next Day**_

They got everything set up inside the home, they added cameras in every room along with bugs to pick up sound. If the killer were to show up here they would be able to move in as soon as possible, they didn't want to take any chances. They had helped them move in all the things they would need to look like a couple who had just moved in together. Boxes were stacked around the room but not with their real things, there were just things fabricated to make them look authentic.

Yesterday they had talked about their cover stories and Penelope had used the F.B.I software to fabricate photos of them to make it look like they were really together. They would be used to decorate their home so that if anyone were to step into it they would believe their story.

"Looks like we need to get used to living together baby girl, get used to each others routines."

"How long do you think we'll need to be undercover?"

"I don't know it could be a while. Why are you scared to be alone with me," he joked.

"No handsome, I'm not scared."


End file.
